Untitled Sermon

AFTER 7A INTRO

This kind of hope changes things. If that is what God is going to do. And if He has given the responsibility to the church to see it fulfilled, we have a lot of work to do.

Bike Illustration

Allow me to give you an illustration. The Mission of the church is like a bike. And Postmillennialism gives us the two pedals of that bike.

1. Hope and 2. Marching Orders.

Hope that our labor is not in vain. That one day the gospel really will overwhelm the world.

And marching orders that tell us how to seek first the Kingdom, make disciples, and live for Christ with all of our life.

And if we are going to get on the bike, if we are going to carry out the Great Commission like God would have us, we are going to need two things: 1. Faith and 2. Faithfulness. That’s how we pedal.

Faith to believe and hold fast to the hope through all the ups and downs trusting God’s Word more than what we see.

And Faithfulness to get to work and make disciples of all nations baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything Jesus commanded.

But what about all the people who won’t obey? What about all the nations and kings that reject Christ and refuse to submit to Him.

Well Psalm 2 comes with a warning.

You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

This is the same idea as Psalm 110. If the nations refuse to submit to Christ through repentance and faith at the preaching of the gospel, then he will break them with a rod of iron. He will shatter them into pieces like a potter’s vessel.

Here’s what this ultimately tell us.

There are two options for every nation. For all people. And both of them rise and fall on the gospel.

Kiss the Son.

Repent and believe the gospel.

Serve the Lord with Fear. Rejoice with Trembling. Worship Christ and Christ alone. Take refuge in Him.

Or reject the gospel and Perish in the way.

One way or another the Kingdom of Christ will grow through the gospel.

If a nation receives the gospel and holds fast to it, they will enjoy all the blessings of Christ’s Kingdom.

But if they reject it. If they reject Christ and walk in disobedience to Him He will shatter them with a Rod of Iron.

God still judges nations. There is nothing special about America, or China, or Russia, or Canada or anyone.

If a nation does not repent at the preaching of the gospel or worst abandons it after tasting the grace of God, Christ will bring them low and raise up a new nation to obey Him.

AFTER 9a

We see a picture of this way back where we first started this sermon in Acts 2 with Peter’s sermon at Pentecost.

Remember Peter had said in Acts 2:33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

bWhat makes Pentecost so unique is that it was Christ’s very first act as King.

When He poured out the Holy Spirit it was a sign that He had been exalted at the right hand of God.

Now here is why that is so significant.

When the Holy Spirit fell at Pentecost, all the disciples started speaking in tongues. They started proclaiming the gospel in foreign languages they didn’t know or understand.

Now have you ever asked yourself why was that the sign of the Holy Spirit. Why were tongues so significant?

Well who was in the city that day?

Acts 2:5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.

And everyone there that day heard the gospel in their own native language and they were amazed and 3000 people even got saved.

Now why was that Christ’s first act as King? Because the nations are His inheritance.

From day one, He gave the Church the gospel in a language that could be understood in every nation under heaven.

Wherever they went, Christ had empowered them to make make disciples of all nations and the ends of the earth His possession.

Conclusion

Christ is King is so much more than Christ is king of my life. Or king of our church. Christ is king means he is King of the entire world!

John Owen “Though our persons fall, our case shall be as truly, certainly, and infallibly victorious, as that Christ sits at the right hand of God. The gospel shall be victorious” (Puritan Hope, xiv).

JH Thornwell “If the Church could be aroused to a deeper sense of the glory that awaits her, she would enter with a warmer spirit into the struggles that are before her. Hope would inspire ardour. She would even now arise from the dust, and like the eagle, plume her pinions for loftier flights than she has yet taken. What she wants and what ever individual Christian wants is faith - faith in her sublime vocation, in her Divine resources, in the presence and efficacy of the Spirit that dwells in her - faith in the truth, faith in Jesus, faith in God. With such a faith there would be no need to speculate about the future. That would speedily reveal itself. It is our unfaithfulness, our negligence and unbelief, our low and carnal aims, that [delay] the chariot of the Redeemer. The Bridegroom cannot come until the Bride has made herself ready. Let the Church be in earnest after greater holiness in her own members, and in faith and love undertake the conquest of the world, and she will soon settle the question whether her resources are competent to change the face of the earth” (Puritan Hope, xxiv-xxv).